Tahiti!

Here it is. Legendary, provocative, alluring: Tahiti. The reality did not set in until we had been there a few days, but the arrival, while not our favorite, was uneventful. We had hoped to arrive during the day, viewing the famed island as Cook, Bligh, and Fletcher Christian had, but after running with a storm for three days, we were there many hours early, worn and bruised from the weather. We slept fitfully, bobbing in the swell until the tides allowed us to enter the Passe Papeete, and made our way to Marina Taina.

Although we had seen the island and smelled it 10 miles at sea, this was our view as we bobbed and awaited favorable tides.

By 0630, we could move through the channel. Note the red marker at left, above Chip's head. The range lights, red-and-white stripped towers on shore, once again safely led us in.

Tahiti is no longer a quaint village, as these swank apartments attest.

There seems to be a concerted effort to maintain the traditional skills such as outrigger paddling. These fellows were out early in the morning and working up quite a sweat.

Perhaps this is out of place, but I wanted to archive the system that I fabricated to get the solar panels to produce for us. I wired all positives together and all negatives together (parallel, for those who wish to know) and ran this output to a spare regulator that I had. It worked!

Marina Taina from the harbor master's office.

Our first and best Maitai. Mmmmmm...simply superb.

Day 1, Wings at rest in the marina. She deserved it.

The Three Brewers provided good beer and our first meal in town. It's a real brew pub, making their own brews on-site.

As French as you can get, only displaced by several thousands of miles.

The high speed ferry from Moorea arrived just at dusk, the last one of the day. We followed on into the Passe Papeete.

Reportedly owned by "the Google guy", MV Dragon Fly is a huge and expensive vessel.

The Princess cruise ship Paul Gauguin alight at night. She had just arrived and would disgorge her passengers for their feeding frenzy on the morrow.

The famous Papeete Market. We had read reports about the market and its wears for a long time. It did not disappoint, selling everything from black pearls to fresh fish.

Chip poses stylishly by the vegetable section.

Bananas! Most were grown in yards and picked for the market the morning of sale.

And, fish: all colors, all species. Tuna was a favorite.

I don't know what the game was, but it drew a lot of interest and a lot of money changed hands. They were serious enough so that I didn't bother them to learn, either.

The vegetable section of the market was full of color. At this point in the day, many vendors were out of product and had departed.

The souvenir part of the market was still going strong since the products were not time dependent.

Lovely Conni inspects silk scarves. This is the upper floor from which many of the photos were taken.

Yes, I love the color of the vegetable section.

The Polynesian Assembly meets behind this gate.

In midtown, Papeete, we found this lovely, cool, and green park with a slow stream meandering through it.

MV Nahlin, built in 1929-30 at G.L Watson of Liverpool, England. They've been building yachts since 1873, so I think that they have it down. Nahlin was once owned by the Romanian Royal Family, as mentioned in our blog. She's quite a sight and caught my eye immediately. She's supposedly owned by the Dyson vacuum guys.

Our Australian friend, John. We played hopscotch with him across the Pacific and we met in Nuku Hiva. He's a retired musician and music promoter. No spring chicken, he hired a delivery captain and crew to help him from San Diego to Australia.

Jesus of the breadfruit, a local concession, I suppose. She's certainly no Gringo matron. Interesting. Both are in the town's cathedral.

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